FG Bans Personal Emails in Civil Service Operations
The Federal Government has officially prohibited the use of personal email accounts, such as Yahoo Mail, for official public-sector transactions. Civil servants are now required to transition to a secure, institutional digital platform known as GovMail.
Head of the Civil Service of the Federation (HoSF), Didi Esther Walson-Jack, announced this directive yesterday in Abuja during a digital transformation summit commemorating the 20th anniversary of Galaxy Backbone.
She revealed that over 115,000 active official GovMail accounts have been activated to ensure secure, traceable, and professional communications across the federal civil service.
Walson-Jack stated: “Government business cannot continue to depend on personal email addresses, informal channels, and scattered records. Thanks to Galaxy Backbone, the days of Yahoo Mail are over for transacting government business. When an officer leaves a desk, government information must not leave with that officer; institutional memory must remain within government.”
The HoSF also announced a major digital milestone: the full digitalisation of work processes across all 38 federal ministries and extra-ministerial departments, achieved before the end of December 2025. She described this as a bold target met through strong institutional commitment, demonstrating that the civil service can successfully reform with clear and consistent leadership.
Reflecting on past bureaucratic challenges, she noted that in the old system, a moving file could be lost in a bag or awaiting a signature. In contrast, a digitalised civil service ensures traceability, accountability, and measurable progress.
She added: “For us in the Federal Civil Service, digitalisation is not a slogan or a ceremonial project but a practical reform aimed at improving the way government works. The paperless civil service is not about removing paper for the sake of removing paper. It is about removing delay, reducing avoidable bureaucracy, strengthening transparency, and ensuring that government work can be tracked, measured, retrieved, and delivered with speed.”
Walson-Jack commended Galaxy Backbone for providing critical digital public infrastructure, including the iGovernment cloud, GovMail, and high-speed Internet. She remarked: “You are not simply providing technology; you are supporting governance, enabling continuity, and helping government to work as one connected system. No digital government can stand without a strong backbone.”
Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Galaxy Backbone, Prof. Ibrahim Adeyanju, noted that digital data has eclipsed crude oil in global economic value, urging the Federal Government to accelerate its digital transformation policies.
